Crotalaria sagittalis L.

Herb or suffrutescent herb, 1-6 dm tall, the stem winged by decurrent stipules, villous. Leaves unifolioliate, elliptic or lanceolate, the apex obtuse, mucronate, acuminate or acute, the base rounded to cuneate, 2-5 cm long, 0.4-1.5 cm broad, the margins entire, above and beneath pilose, trichomes to 2.8 mm long, veins not evident; petiole 2 mm or less long; stipules inverted sagittate, winging the stem for one internode or less, tapering to the base, the wings 0.3-1.4 cm broad, the nodal lobes 0.4-1.5 cm long. Inflorescences leaf-opposed racemes bearing 1-5 flowers; bracts lanceolate to elliptic lanceolate, 4-7 mm long; pedicels 2.0-3.5 mm long; bracteoles linear to elliptic lanceolate, 2.5-6.0 mm long, pilose, located on the base of the calyx. Flowers yellow, 11-16 mm long, the calyx 7-11 mm long, the tube campanulate, the lobes 2.5-3.0 times as long as the tube, strigulose; corolla yellow, occasionally with maroon veins, 6-8 mm long, the standard 5.5-7.0 mm long, 4.2-5.0 mm broad, retuse, the wings 5.0-5.5 mm long, the claws 1.8-2.0 mm long, oblong, oblique, the keel 6.5-7.0 mm long; short stamens di-morphic, the long anthers 0.8-1.1 mm long, the short anthers 0.3-0.4 mm long; style with a pubescent stigma, sharply geniculate, 4.0-5.3 mm long. Legume inflated, 1.8-2.8 cm long, glabrous, black at maturity; seeds ca. 25, tan, olive or brown, oblique cordiform, to 2.5 mm long.

It is a tropical plant. In Argentina it grows between 1,500-3,000 m above sea level.

The leaves and stems are eaten in broth.